Darkest Before the Dawn
by Haseo The Terror of Death
Summary: After Kuro's defeat at the hands of Solo, the Sphere vanished. No one knew where it was...until now. Traveling between worlds, the Sphere fell into the hands of an even greater evil. Now he's coming to Gielinor, and nothing can stop him.
1. Prologue

**The big project I promised is here! Elio of _The Sands of Time_ must team-up with Solo Pehkayer if he has any hope of defeating Fierce Deity. Will they prevail? Or will Solo's world suffer as Elio's did? Review Q below!  
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**P.S. So sorry about this, but to get more readers, I moved this from the Cross Over section to the regular section. After about a week, only one person had read it. I usually get a few more than that. I feel bad about moving it when it is clearly going to be a cross over, so if people complain, I'll move it back.  
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><p>Darkest Before the Dawn<p>

Prologue

The shattering of his blade left a ringing sound in his ears. He dropped to his knees, numb to the pain inflicted on him during the raging battle a few moments prior. All he could think about was his sword, now laying in six pieces on the scorched ground beneath him, with the skeletons of millions surrounding him.

This cannot be how it all ends, Elio thought in despair.

Wielded against evil for generations, the Master Sword was now destroyed by the very same evil it had sworn to defeat.

Fierce Deity.

A monster unlike any seen before, Fierce Deity was a god of immense power. Once trapped in his home realm of Termina, he had broken the barrier to Hyrule in order to make a grab for ultimate power, namely the Triforce.

The Goddesses, Din, Nayru, and Farore, sensing the shattering of the barrier, had searched out a new guardian for the Master Sword. Elio Vantine had been that guardian, one of the last Pureblooded Hylians left in Hyrule.

Fierce set about upsetting the fabric of time, attempting to bend it to his own purposes, such as destroying the lineage of Link at its source.

Using the powers granted to him, Elio stopped the outlaw deity at every turn. From then on the two clashed for ages, taking their battle from Skyloft to the Twilight realm to every time period that existed.

But the world did not escape totally unscathed. Elio and Fierce Deity's battles eventually grew in fever, upsetting the three branches of the time stream and the planet's life force. Entire towns and countries were burned to the ground at the hands of the deity.

And Elio could not stop him.

Hyrule eventually succumbed and was obliterated. Not having lost hope, Elio continued to fight for the very survival of his planet, even though most of it had long been razed by the destructive magic of Fierce Deity.

He had traveled to Termina, the only place left unharmed, in search of a mask salesman who was rumored to have a mask capable of stopping Fierce Deity.

It had taken time, but when he returned to his home realm, Elio wielded the might of Majora's Mask, another deity of unimaginable power. Facing down Fierce Deity on Outset Island, it looked like Elio had turned the tides of defeat, but it wasn't that simple.

The mask was too powerful to control, and in a moment that will haunt him, he caused the death of the island's inhabitants. The resulting blast of energy boiled the oceans, killed the marine life, and caused the Great Sea to evaporate.

And after all that, Fierce Deity never got scratched once.

Their battles raked the planet's surface a thousand times, causing mass hysteria and destruction. Soon Elio's world was all but a distant memory, just a scorched planet on which nothing grew or lived. Even the Goddess themselves fell to Fierce Deity's terror.

Now his only hope of defeating the monster was gone, broken into pieces. He looked up at the grinning face of his opponent, Fierce's white eyes shining with glee.

The Terminan deity had always bore a striking resemblance to the Hero of Time, even clothed in a tunic and cap, albeit white. Some had speculated that he was Termina's Link, others said he was not.

Now no one lived to speculate one way or the other.

Fierce Deity reached down and ripped Majora's Mask from Elio's face, crushing it in his hand.

"I told you I would defeat you, Elio," Fierce said. "Even if it has been thousands of years since we first began this dance of ours."

"What will you do now?" Elio asked, carefully eyeing Fierce's Double Helix Sword. "You've destroyed Hyrule and all other forms of Hyrule in all three timelines; there isn't much to rule over."

"Harvest the ashes of this world and remake it in my image, of course," the god replied. "With the three lines of time shattered, I can take my rightful place as ruler of the universe!"

"Monster," Elio spat. "Someone will rise up and defeat you!"

"And who would that be?" Fierce Deity asked. "Link? I took care of him - all three of him. No, there is no resistance left in any time, and you know it."

The mad god lifted his sword, poised to finish Elio. "Let us finish what we started ages ago."

Lowering his head and softly praying, Elio awaited his death. Seeing this, the god laughed. "Go ahead, pray to your dead goddesses. It makes no difference to me."

A flash of blue light caught their attention. Both turning, a brilliant blue orb crashed to the ground, stirring up bits of bones and ash.

"What is this?" Fierce Deity asked. He turned towards Elio. "Some last defense?"

Elio shook his head. He had absolutely no idea what it was. A blue orb appears from thin air, rescuing Elio from death, and he wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

Edging closer to it, Fierce Deity reached out a gloved hand to touch the now-glowing blue orb. As soon as he touched it, the orb let out what sounded like a child's scream. Going from blue to black, the orb began to radiate an energy so raw, Elio could taste it on his tongue.

Fierce Deity, despite this, grabbed the orb, and got the shock of his life. Covering him in some kind of inky shield of energy, the orb began to blink on and off. The energy coming off the thing became more charged as the blinking increased in frequency.

Finally it let out a burst of energy which engulfed the god. Elio did his best to shield his face from the burst, but when he looked up, Fierce Deity was gone.

The orb was gone as well.

What just happened? he thought.

He squinted into the distance trying to see if the god had just jumped ahead a few leagues, but he saw nothing. Scrambling to his feet, upsetting the bones of the fallen, he rushed to the spot where Fierce Deity had been standing.

"That orb," he whispered aloud. "It must have torn him apart at the molecular level, but…where did it come from?"

With the powers granted to him, he reached through the layers of time and searched for the orb's presence. After a few minutes, he almost gave up, but then he felt the faint residual energy left by the orb.

"Impossible!" he said, surprised. "The orb's energy trail leads to…another universe, another world."

As he soaked in the orb's energy, he felt something evil. Attached to the orb, riding it to another world, was Fierce Deity.

Elio was stunned into silence. So the mad god still lived after all. Which meant Elio's job was still incomplete.

He jogged back over to the broken Master Sword and collected the pieces, storing them in his backpack. If he was going to stop Fierce Deity from reeking even more destruction, he would need all the help he could get.

And that meant tracking down some old relics that might aid him in his fight. When that was done, and he was prepared, Elio would follow Fierce Deity to whatever world he had vanished to.

"I will track you to the ends of the universe, Fierce Deity," Elio swore. "You will not go unpunished for the destruction of my world! Even if I must follow you to this world called Gielinor."

Elio then invoked the necklace he carried with him, an artifact allowing him to travel through time, to take him to the first weapon he would need - the Four Sword.

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><p><strong>Review Q: What kind of surprises are you looking forward to in this epic cross-over event? <strong>

**InterCom: The place to ask the author (me!) any question.**

**Comments: If you've been patiently waiting for me to finish The Sands of Time, this is the story for you.**

**Until next we meet, adieu!**


	2. Chapter One

**Really sorry that it took so long to upload this chapter, but I hope you enjoy it. Review Q below!**

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><p>Darkest Before the Dawn<p>

Chapter One

He spurred the horse as fast as it could go, speeding through the inches of snow; he was desperately needed in Varrock by sundown. The animal raced at top speeds so that its feet seemed not to touch the ground. Solo was gracious for the animal's endurance, even with him, the weather, and his armor weighing the creature down.

Solo flew to Varrock for one reason - the goblin invasion.

Days ago he had received word in Falador that Varrock was under attack by a legion of goblins. Delaying only so he could get a horse readied, Solo had sped towards the distant city.

Most of the White Knights had left ahead him, already having their horses ready by the time he found one. He had attempted, if briefly, to find Emma or Kook. His team was nowhere to be found, so he could only assume that they had left before him or were off on a mission.

From the report, he gathered that the goblins had managed a three-pronged attack. Pushing aside the fact that most goblins were too stupid for any kind of military strategy, Solo figured that the safest place to mount a counter-attack would be the southern entrance. He knew this because the wall was slightly lower at the southern entrance, and thus could be easily scaled if the bridge had been raised.

He only hoped it wasn't too late to make a difference.

Solo reeled in his horse as he approached Varrock. The sounds of heavy fighting drifted on the wind as he observed his fellow Knights of Falador attempting to fight their way in and recapture the city.

A glance told him that the goblin's attack-and-dash ploy was working; the knights were unable to successfully counter the attacks when their enemies were gone the next second.

He kicked his horse into a run. Galloping at top speed, Solo speared several scattered goblins before he reached the actual battleground.

"Don't let them break through the line!" White Knight General Kahn shouted uselessly, for the goblins had already done just that.

He rode up alongside the general. "What's the situation, General Kahn?"

The general spat. "Not good, Solo. We've been here for just over a day, but try as we might we just can't put up any kind of defense against these things. I've already sent word to the Wizard Tower for them to send someone to help us, but it'll take a few days for them to get here, unless they teleport in."

They were interrupted when a lone and bloodied scout sprinted for them, shouting as he ran. "General Kahn! I have news from the Wizard Tower!"

The general asked, "Are we to receive any mages?"

"Yes," the out of breath scout replied, "but the mages are unable to teleport to Varrock. There's some magical interference blocking them from getting here via teleportation."

The general gnashed his teeth in anger. "Sod it! Not only are we being outsmarted by the absolute _dumbest _race in all of Gielinor, but it had to happen when the wizards' magic is being interfered with."

"Do you think the goblins have something to do with this?" Solo inquired.

Kahn scoffed. "They may be beating us, but I doubt even they are efficient enough in magic to pull this off."

"Are there no mages in the area?" Solo asked. "Where is Kook?"

"There have been sightings of several fire spells going off in the city. That was hours ago, however. We haven't seen or heard anything else."

Another knight appeared from the battlefield. "Generals, we've been pushed back on the northern side of the city. I'm afraid most of our forces there have been vanquished. It's the snow, sir. The knights are having trouble finding their footing."

"For the love of Saradomin!" Kahn roared. "Send a troop of knights to hold the northern gate until I can send for reinforcements from the neighboring cities."

The knight nodded and rushed off.

"It is worse than I ever imagined," Solo said to himself.

"Knights, push these damn creatures back!" the general roared in frustration as a group of goblins managed to get past a line of knights. "I will not let this city fall to a bunch of green-skinned pests!"

Solo watched as a team of archers lined up and released a volley of arrows that rained down upon the stampeding goblins. Dozens fell, but still they came. It would almost be impressive if they weren't in danger of dying.

Kahn turned to Solo. "Are you the last from Falador?"

"Yes sir."

"It seems we will have to wait for the guards from Lumbridge and Port Sarim to reinforce our defense. If it weren't for the guards of Varrock either being dead or trapped within the city, we could possibly turn this around."

Solo turned a troubled eye on the unfolding battle, watching as his knights fell to the goblins. Part of him wanted to rush in to aid his men, but as general he was more needed in a seat of authority to give commands. With the knights taking heavy losses, it would be up to him and the other White Knight Generals to turn the tides of battle in their favor.

"Where are the generals?" Solo asked Kahn. He needed to form a map of their locations in his mind's eye.

"General Amy was leading our northern line of defense when it fell, so there is no telling if she is alive or not," Kahn spoke grimly. "Our eastern and western defenses are led by the brothers Farou and Taron. Both are taking even heavier losses than my own battalion."

That left him and Kahn, but Solo recalled there being one more. "What of General Razzik? We could use his in-depth knowledge of the goblins. Is it true he lived with them for 20 years?"

Kahn hocked a loogie onto the ground before answering. "That's correct. Razzik Razoredge has spent the last 20 years of his life squatting alongside these filthy creatures, a life I'm not envious of in the least. He has learned as much as one can about goblins. He even went so far as to take a goblin last name, the idiot."

Despite the slight praise, the two generals were intense rivals stretching back to before they had join the knights. Razzik had stolen Kahn's sweetheart, eventually marrying her and having two kids. Kahn, rising past this, went on to become one of the best students the knights ever had, while Razzik spent much of his time with the goblins. Razzik's obsession drove a wedge between him and his wife, which led to their splitting up a few years into the marriage.

Kahn would have been overjoyed, had it not also led to her untimely death at the hands of a crazed goblin who believed she was not good enough for Razzik. This of course spurred the mutual hatred between the two, Kahn blaming Razzik for her death, and Razzik deeply disturbed over the events in question.

It did not help matters that Razzik soon after began having relations with the goblin who had murdered his wife. Some say he did it because he had been driven mad, others believe he wanted his wife dead.

Solo touched the hilt of his sword nervously as he watched the snow turn to red. "Where is he?"

"Hopefully bleeding out somewhere on the battlefield," Kahn said with contempt. He looked at Solo's disapproving glare. "Can't blame me for wishing. More than likely he is on his way to meet with the goblin chief to broker some sort of cease-fire, but I can't see that happening. These blasted things are out for blood."

A cry came from below as several knights fell to a swarm of goblin reinforcements. Tired of waiting on the sidelines, Solo kicked his horse into high gear, brandishing his weapon high as he rode into battle.

"Solo!" Kahn called out after him. "What are you doing? Get back here!"

He leapt from his mount, his sword delivering swift justice in the form of a decapitated goblin head. Rolling onto the ground, he stood up just as four goblins surrounded him.

One of the creatures tried to hit him with their spear, but he raised his shield in time to block it. The spear ricocheted off his shield, momentarily distracting the goblin as it scurried for its fallen weapon. Solo took this moment to slide his sword through the goblin's backside.

Pulling his sword out, he parried the attacks of the second goblin, slicing its head off in one fell swoop.

In a few seconds, Solo stood covered in blood but victorious. He waved in the direction of Kahn and shouted, "I can't just sit by and watch my men die. I need to be on the field with them!"

Kahn shouted over the battle sounds. "No, Solo, wait!"

"If you need to relay orders to me, please send a courier!" Solo shouted as he ran into the thick of battle, his sword gleaming in the setting sun's light.

Having lost count of the exact number of goblins he cut down, Solo slowed down to catch his breath. He used the grass to wipe the blood from his blade, and quickly took in the battlefield.

Even after joining the battle, Solo saw that the knights had barely made a dent in the goblin army. Under ordinary circumstances he wouldn't have thought it were possible for there to be an army of goblins, yet here they were.

The sound of a goblin trying to sneak up on him shook him from his thoughts. Solo spun around, slicing the goblin down. Then his attention turned to the gates of the city.

There was something going on inside.

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><p><strong>Review Q: Which White Knight General do you want to see next? What do you think is happening within the city? <strong>

**InterCom: InterCom is where you ask me, the author, any question you can think of. Go ahead, hit me with your best shot!  
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**Comments: With school out I should be able to get more chapters out on a semi-regular basis. I'm pushing back War for the Sphere to the end of Summer. My apologies for the delays in that story.  
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**May we meet again, adieu!  
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